Artemisia dracunculus Extracts Obtained by Organic Solvents and Supercritical CO2 Produce Cytotoxic and Antitumor Effects in Mice with L5178Y Lymphoma

We investigated the cytotoxic and antitumor effects of nine leaf extracts from Artemisia dracunculus (Tarragon). Five extracts were obtained using different organic solvents and four by supercritical CO₂. The cytotoxic effects were expressed as IC₅₀ in 100, 80, 80, 100, and 80 μg/mL by respective solvents: hexane, ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol, and acetonitrile in L5178Y lymphoma cells. For supercritical CO₂ extract A, IC₅₀ was 100 μg/mL; for extracts C and D, IC₅₀ was 150 μg/mL. The antitumor activity was assessed through a tumor growth inhibition test that measured ascites fluid volume and tumor cell counts of BALB/c mice (2 × 10⁴ cells L5178Y i.p.). Twenty-four hours after inoculation, mice were treated with 100 mg/kg of acetonitrile extract or extract SF-A daily for 15 days in independent groups of five mice, using two administration routes. We observed tumor evolution with and without treatment. Without treatment, tumor evolution was 17,969 × 10⁶ ± 5485 L5178Y cells in 2.6 mL ascites volume, whereas the orally treated acetonitrile extract group showed 0.1 × 10⁶ ± 0.07 L5178Y cells (P < .05). The oral SF-A group showed 12.9 × 10⁶ ± 243 L5178Y cells, and intraperitoneal (i.p.)-treated SF-A group showed 0.1 × 10⁶ ± 0.05 L5178Y cells (P < .05) without any ascites volume development. The acetonitrile extract contains abundant polyphenols and possibly a flavone with antioxidant activity. The SF-A contains abundant alkamides. Both extracts are complexes and the identity of the compounds responsible for observed antitumor activity remains unknown.